When you seek medical care, you expect to leave the medical facility feeling better. However, in some situations, patients may leave a hospital or other medical facility in a worse condition than when they entered. If this occurs due to the negligence of a healthcare provider, you may have grounds for a medical malpractice claim.
If you were injured because of an error made by a healthcare provider in Fort Worth, a medical malpractice lawyer from Loncar Lyon Jenkins can help.
Call today to see what our Fort Worth personal injury lawyers can do for you.
Damages a Fort Worth Medical Malpractice Lawyer May Be Able to Seek on Your Behalf
Injuries that result from medical malpractice can be especially complicated, as you may have to deal with treating two injuries: any original health condition that was not properly treated, as well as a new injury caused by a medical provider.
When we calculate the value of your case, we will take the full costs of treatment into account. We will seek compensation for your:
- Medical bills, including surgery, hospitalization, emergency care, visits to a doctor or specialist, medication, rehabilitation, and more
- Lost wages
- Reduced earning capacity
- Pain and suffering
- And more
If You Lost a Loved One to Their Injuries
A failure to diagnose a serious condition or another form of malpractice can lead to catastrophic consequences for injury victims. A surgical error or other mistake can also be fatal. We offer compassionate representation for those who lost a loved one to medical malpractice.
We can seek a recovery for your:
- Loved one’s final medical expenses
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of consortium
- Loss of guidance
- Loss of household services
- Loss of income for the family
- And more
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When You Have a Medical Malpractice Case
Doctors study medicine for many years and practice under the supervision of a more knowledgeable doctor as part of their training. As a result, patients reasonably expect that healthcare providers will treat them with the care that coincides with this skill and education.
If a healthcare provider provides care that falls below the standard that a reasonably competent doctor would have provided under similar circumstances, medical malpractice may have occurred. However, it can be difficult to make this discernment without expert testimony and compelling evidence.
This is one of the reasons why it can be greatly beneficial to work with a Fort Worth personal injury attorney from our team. We have experience with these kinds of cases and can help you build a case and pursue fair compensation from the liable party or parties.
How a Fort Worth Lawyer From Our Team Will Prove Medical Malpractice
Our medical malpractice attorneys will take all of the steps necessary to help you establish the legal basis for your claim, which may include:
Contacting Expert Witnesses
Medical malpractice claims are often complex and may involve complicated legal and medical issues. In most medical malpractice cases, a medical expert must be able to testify about the victim’s injury and how a deviation from the medical standard of care caused it. We can retain expert witnesses for your claim and ensure that we have a strong understanding of its basis.
Reviewing Medical Records for Your Fort Worth Case
We can request relevant medical records on your behalf that may showcase holes in your treatment, such as:
- Doctors not ordering necessary tests
- Doctors not reviewing test results
- Doctors misreading test results
- Contraindicated medications being prescribed
- Medications being filled incorrectly
- Surgical notes that show a problem that happened in the operating room
- Emergency room records that demonstrate proper care and attention were not given to you
Seeking Discovery Answers
One of the most effective ways that our medical malpractice lawyers can gather relevant information in your case is by sending formal discovery requests, such as:
- Subpoenas to medical facilities for copies of business records
- Interrogatories that ask the defendant to answer specific questions about your care and that can help your legal team better prepare for the case
- Requests for the production of key documents
- Depositions of the defendant and other witnesses to anticipate trial testimony
Contact our team to get started on your claim. Once we learn more about your case, we can determine what evidence your case may need.
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Examples of Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice can occur in a variety of situations. In fact, Johns Hopkins Medicine suggests that medical errors are the third most common cause of death in the United States. Some of the most common forms of medical malpractice include:
Failure to Diagnose or Delayed Diagnosis
Doctors and other healthcare providers are expected to talk to patients to learn about their symptoms and history. They may also examine the patient and run tests to determine the patient’s ailment. A failure to diagnose can occur when a doctor misreads or ignores a patient’s scans or lab results. The patient can suffer unnecessarily from this condition because the healthcare provider was unable to identify a condition to treat.
Delayed diagnosis occurs when a healthcare provider does not provide a proper diagnosis until later than they should have been able to. A patient may endure additional pain and suffering or have a shorter life expectancy due to the delayed diagnosis. For example, if a doctor misreads a scan and does not notice a tumor right away, this could lead to a patient fighting stage IV cancer instead of stage II.
Misdiagnosis
Misdiagnosis occurs when a healthcare provider diagnoses a patient with a condition they do not actually have. There are two problems with this. First, the patient receives treatment for a condition they do not actually have, which may cause adverse health effects. Second, the patient does not receive treatment for the condition they do have.
Medication Errors
Many medical errors involve medication errors. These errors can include:
- Giving the patient the wrong type of medication
- Prescribing the patient the wrong medication due to legibility issues or prescription mix-ups
- Giving the patient the wrong dosage of medication
- Administering the medication in the wrong way
- Not checking the patient’s existing medication to see if the prescribed medication might adversely react with another type of medication
Failure to Warn
Failure to warn and lack of informed consent cases arise when a patient is not given sufficient information about the potential risks of a medical treatment or procedure. They must also know about alternatives and the potential of certain injuries.
Never Events
The National Quality Forum created a class of medical errors called “never events.” While these events should not occur, they do. They include such serious reportable events as:
- Surgery performed on the wrong side of the body
- Surgery performed on the wrong body part
- Surgery performed on the wrong patient
- Leaving a foreign object like a scalpel or sponge in a patient after surgery
- Release of a patient who is unable to make decisions on their own behalf
- Death or serious injury due to physical restraint
- Unsafe administration of blood products
- Serious injury or death to a pregnant mother in a low-risk pregnancy during labor or delivery
- Artificial insemination with the wrong donor sperm
Reach the Loncar Lyon Jenkins team today to speak about your options if any of the above occurred to you or a family member.
Laws That Might Affect Your Medical Malpractice Case in Texas
Medical malpractice laws in Texas are complex. There are several requirements that must be met for a case.
- Statute of limitations: You have two years to file a lawsuit for medical malpractice, per Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code Section 74.251.
- Notice requirement: You must first give the medical provider notice (by certified mail) at least 60 days before you file a lawsuit, per Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code section 74.051. You must also include an authorization form for release of protected health information.
- Expert report requirement: You must also include an expert report within 120 days of the medical provider’s answer to your notice.
You don’t need to worry about these requirements when you work with our team.
Contact Our Medical Malpractice Team for a Free Review of Your Fort Worth Case
If you were injured because of a careless healthcare provider, a medical malpractice lawyer from our team may be able to help. Someone from our firm can review the circumstances of your claim and explain whether you have a viable medical malpractice action. We will provide a free case review to explain your legal rights and options. Our team has been successfully handling medical malpractice cases for years, as our results show.
Our Fort Worth team works for you on a contingency-fee-basis, so you do not pay any attorney fees unless we recover compensation on your behalf. Call Loncar Lyon Jenkins to get started.